An integrated circuit that includes a low resistance current path, and more particularly, an integrated circuit that includes a conductive liquid to lower resistance between conductors in the integrated circuit.
Devices such as processors and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) need more power to operate at multiple-gigahertz frequencies and to simultaneously perform the numerous logic and memory operations that are now required of processors. The additional power is supplied by higher currents that generate more heat in, or near, the processor due to resistance along the current path. The additional heat generated by using higher currents can cause processors to operate at temperatures that are high enough to damage the processor.
Current is typically supplied to a processor, or die, through pins that are mounted on an opposite side of a substrate to the die. One way to deal with challenges created by supplying high currents is to add more pins, because a greater number of pins have a larger cumulative cross-sectional area to carry current. The larger cross-sectional area should have a lower resistance that generates less heat when current is supplied to the processor through the pins.
The drawbacks with adding pins include increased cost and the use of precious space on the integrated circuit. In addition, when pins are added, they may not have a significantly lowered resistance as compared to the resistance of the pins in the more active regions of the processor. Therefore, the additional pins may not be effective in reducing resistance in certain current-carrying regions of the integrated circuit.